Torah Reading for Shemot

Parshat Shemot

Shabbat, 21 Tevet, 5780

18 January, 2020

Select a portion:

1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7thHaftarahComplete

5th Portion: (Exodus 3:16 - 4:17)

Show content in:

BothEnglishHebrew

Exodus Chapter 3

16Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, 'The Lord God of your forefathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "I have surely remembered you and what is being done to you in Egypt." '

the elders of Israel: Those devoted to study, for if you say [that it means] ordinary elderly men, how was it possible for him to gather [all] the elderly men of [a nation of] six hundred thousand? [from Yoma 28b]

17And I said, 'I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'

18And they will hearken to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, 'The Lord God of the Hebrews has happened upon us, and now, let us go for a three days' journey in the desert and offer up sacrifices to the Lord, our God.'

And they will hearken to your voice: As soon as you say this expression [“I have surely remembered you…," פָּקֹד פָּקַדְךְתִּי אֶתְכֶם] to them, they will hearken to your voice, for this password was transmitted to them from Jacob and from Joseph, that with this expression they will be redeemed. Jacob said to them, “and God will surely remember יִפְקֹד) (פָּקֹד you (Gen. 50:24). Joseph said to them, “God will surely remember (פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד) you” (Gen. 50:25). — [from Exod. Rabbah 3:11]

(God of the Hebrews: Heb. הָעִבְרִיִים The “yud” is superfluous. It alludes to the ten plagues. — [From an old Rashi])

העבריים‎ אלהי: (יו"ד יתירה רמז למכות (ברשי ישן

has happened upon us: Heb. נִקְרָה, an expression of an occurrence (מִקְרֶה), and similarly, “God happened (וַיִקָר)” (Num. 23:4), “and I will be met by Him there (וְאָנֹכִי אִקָרֵה כֹּה)” (Num. 23:15).

will not permit: Heb. לֹא-יִךְתֵּן, [lit., will not give. In this case, however, Onkelos renders:] לֹא יִֹשְבּוֹק, will not permit, similar to “Therefore, I did not let you (לֹא-נְתַתִּי)” (Gen. 20:6); but God did not let him (וְלֹא-נְתָנוֹ) harm me” (Gen. 31:7), but they all are expressions of giving. [They are basically expressions of giving, in these cases, giving permission.] Others explain וְלֹא בְּיָד חִזָקָה - and not because his hand is mighty, for as soon as I stretch forth My hand and smite the Egyptians, etc.” The Targum renders it: “and not because his strength is mighty.” This was told to me in the name of Rabbi Jacob the son of Rabbi Menachem.

22Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor and from the dweller in her house silver and gold objects and garments, and you shall put [them] on your sons and on your daughters, and you shall empty out Egypt."

and from the dweller in her house: From the one who lives with her in the same house.

ומגרת ביתה: מאותה שהיא גרה אתה בבית:

and you shall empty out: Heb. וְנִצַּלְתֶּם, as the Targum renders: וּתְרוּקְנוּן, and you shall empty out. And likewise, and they emptied out (וַיְנצלוּ) Egypt (Exod. 12:36); “and the children of Israel stripped themselves (וַיִתְנַצְלוּ) of their ornaments” (Exod. 33:6). Hence, the nun is a root letter. Menachem, however, classified it in the classification of the “tzaddi” (Machbereth Menachem p. 149) with “Thus, God separated (וַיַצֵל) your father’s livestock” (Gen. 31:9); “that God separated (הִצִיל) from our father” (Gen. 31:16). His words are, however, incorrect, because if the “nun” were not part of the root, since it is vowelized with a “chirik”, the word would not be used in the active sense for the second person masculine plural, but in the passive form for the second person masculine plural, similar to: “and you shall be uprooted (וְנִסַּחְתֶּם) from the land” (Deut. 28:63); “and you shall be delivered (וְנִתַתֶּם) into the hand of the enemy” (Lev. 26:25); “and you will be beaten (וְנִגַּפְתֶּם) before your enemies” (Lev. 26:17); “and you will be melted (וְנִתַּכְתֶּם) in its midst” (Ezek. 22:21); and say, ‘We are saved (נִצַלְנוּ)’ ” (Jer. 7:10), a passive expression in the first person plural. Every “nun” that is sometimes in the root and [sometimes] is missing, like the “nun” of נוֹגֵף (beats), נוֹשֵׂא (carries), נוֹתֵן (gives), נוֹשֵׁ (bites), when it is used in the active second person plural, is vowelized with a vocalized “schwa,” e.g., “and you shall carry (וּנְשָׂאתֶם) your father” (Gen. 45:19); “and you shall give (וּנְתַתֶּם) them” (Num. 32:29); “And you shall circumcise (וּנְמַלְתֶּם) the flesh of your foreskin” (Gen. 17:11). Therefore, I say that this [nun], which is vowelized with a “chirik”, is part of the root, and the noun is נִצּוּל, which is a heavy expression [with a “dagesh” in the second letter], like דִבּוּר (speech), כִּפּוּר (atonement), לִמוּד (teaching), and when one speaks in the second person plural, it (the first root letter of the verb) is vowelized with a “chirik”, like: “And you shall speak (וְדִבַּרְתֶּם) to the rock” (Num. 20:8); “and expiate (וְכִפַּרְתֶּם) the House” (Ezek. 45:20); “And you shall teach (וְלִמַּדְתֶּם) them to your sons” (Deut. 11:19).

“What is this in your hand?”: Heb. מַזֶּה, [an unusual spelling. Its usual spelling is מַה זֶה in two words.] It is written as one word to imply the meaning: From this (מִזֶה) in your hand you are liable to be stricken because you have suspected innocent people (Exod. Rabbah 3:12). Its simple meaning is [that God is talking to Moses] as a person who says to his friend, “Do you admit that this before you is a stone?” He answers him, “Yes.” “Well, I will make it into a tree.”

and it became a serpent-: [This was how] He hinted to him [Moses] that he had spoken ill of Israel (by saying, “They will not believe me,” ) and he had adopted the art of the serpent. — [from Exod. Rabbah 3:12]

ויהי לנחש: רמז לו שסיפר לשון הרע על ישראל ותפש אומנותו של נחש:

4And the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch forth your hand and take hold of its tail." So Moses stretched forth his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand.

and grasped it-: Heb. וַיַּחֲזִיק בּוֹ. This is an expression of taking hold, and there are many such words in Scripture, e.g., “and the men took hold (וַיַּחִזִיקוּ) of his hand” (Gen. 19:16); “and she grabbed (וְהֶחֱזִיקָה) his private parts” (Deut. 25:11); “and I took hold (וְהֶחֱזַקְךְתִּי) of his jaw” (I Sam. 17:35). Every expression of חִזוּק attached to a “beth” denotes taking hold.

his hand was leprous like snow: It is usual for tzora'as (leprousy) to be white [as we find:] "If it be a white blemish." (Vayikra 13:4) With this sign, too, He hinted to him that he spoke slanderously when he said, "They will not believe me." It is for this reason that He struck him with tzora'as, just as Miriam was struck for speaking slanderously.

and [when] he took it out of his bosom: From here, [we learn] that the Divine measure of good comes quicker than the measure of retribution, for in the first instance [verse 6] it does not say, from his bosom. — [from Shab. 97a, Exod. Rabbah 3:13]

they will believe the voice of the last sign: When you tell them, “Because of you I was stricken, because I spoke ill of you,” they will believe you, for they have already learned that those who trespass against them are stricken with plagues, such as Pharaoh and Abimelech, [who were punished] because of Sarah.

9And it will come to pass, if they do not believe either of these two signs, and they do not heed your voice, you shall take of the water of the Nile and spill it upon the dry land, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry land."

you shall take of the water of the Nile: He hinted to them that with the first plague He exacts retribution upon their deities. (This means that when the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts retribution upon the nations, He first exacts retribution upon their deities, for they [the Egyptians] worshipped the Nile, which afforded them sustenance, and He turned them [the deities, i.e., the Nile] into blood. [From an old Rashi])

ולקחת ממימי היאור: רמז להם שבמכה ראשונה נפרע מאלהותם:

and the water…will become: The word וְהָיוּ, will become, appears twice. [The verse means literally: And will be (וְהָיוּ), meaning that the water that you will take from the Nile will become (וְהָיוּ) blood on dry land.] It seems to me that if it said: “And will be (וְהָיוּ) the water that you will take from the Nile will become (וְהָיוּ) blood on dry land,” I understand [that it means] that in his hand it would turn into blood, and also when it descended to earth, it would remain as it is. But now it [the text] teaches us that it would not become blood until on dry land.

10Moses said to the Lord, "I beseech You, O Lord. I am not a man of words, neither from yesterday nor from the day before yesterday, nor from the time You have spoken to Your servant, for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue."

neither from yesterday, etc.: We learn [from this] that for a full seven days the Holy One, blessed be He, was enticing Moses in the thorn bush to go on His mission: “from yesterday,” “from the day before yesterday,” “from the time You have spoken” ; thus there are three [days], and the three times גַּם [is mentioned] are inclusive words, adding up to six, and he was presently in the seventh day when he further said to Him, “Send now with whom You would send” (verse 13), until He became angry (verse 14) and complained about him. All this [reluctance] was because he [Moses] did not want to accept a position higher than his brother Aaron, who was his senior and was a prophet, as it is said: “Did I appear to the house of your father when they were in Egypt?” (I Sam. 2:27); [“your father” means Aaron. Similarly,] “and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt” (Ezek. 20:5); “And I said to them, ‘Every man cast away the despicable idols from before his eyes’” (Ezek. 20:7), and that prophecy was said to Aaron. — [from Exod. Rabbah 3:16]

Who gave man a mouth: Who taught you to speak when you were being judged before Pharaoh concerning the Egyptian [you killed]?

מי שם פה וגו': מי למדך לדבר כשהיית נדון לפני פרעה על המצרי:

or who makes [one] dumb: Who made Pharaoh dumb, that he did not exert any effort [to issue his] command to kill you? And [who made] his servants deaf, so that they did not hear his commandment concerning you? And who made the executioners blind, that they did not see when you fled from the [executioner’s] platform and escaped?-[from Tanchuma, Shemoth 10]

with whom You would send: With whom You are accustomed to sending, and this is Aaron. Another explanation: With someone else, with whom You wish to send, for I am not destined to bring them into the land [of Israel] and to be their redeemer in the future. You have many messengers.

14And the Lord's wrath was kindled against Moses, and He said, "Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he will surely speak, and behold, he is coming forth toward you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart.

wrath was kindled: Rabbi Joshua ben Korchah says: In every [instance that God’s] kindling anger [is mentioned, i.e., that God’s anger was sparked] in the Torah, it is stated [that there was] a consequence [i.e., it was followed by a punishment]. In this [instance, however,] no consequence is stated, and we do not find that a punishment came [to Moses] after this kindling of anger. Rabbi Jose said to him, “Here too you can see a consequence is stated: [namely in the question] ‘Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite,’ who was destined to be a Levite and not a priest [kohen]. I had said that the priesthood would emanate from you, henceforth it will not be so, but he [Aaron] will be a priest and you the Levite, as it is said: ‘But as for Moses, the man of God-his sons were to be called in the tribe of Levi’ (I Chron. 23:14).” -[from Zev. 102a]

and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart: Not as you think, that he will resent your attaining a high position. Because of this [Aaron’s goodness and humility], Aaron merited the ornament of the breastplate, which is placed over the heart (Exod. 28:29). — [from Exod. Rabbah 3:17]

And he will speak for you: Heb לְ On your behalf he will speak to the people. This proves that every instance of לָכֶם, לְ, לִי, לוֹ and לָהֶם used in conjunction with דִבּוּר, speech, all denote “on behalf of.”